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Organic chemistry is a broad field studying the chemistry of carbon in its many and diverse forms. Organic molecules form the basis of much of the industrial chemistry - it is the basis of the petroleum industry producing fuels, polymers and a variety of organic commodity chemicals. Additional, organic molecules form the basis of life and the chemistry of living systems is largely the chemistry of organic molecules, their structures and functionality.
Zachary Ball is focused on new methodology, reaction design and transition-metal catalysis. He aims to bring these tools to bear on problems within fields where sophisticated reaction design has the potential to serve as an enabling tool to produce unique insights into complex, interdisciplinary problems.
Ed Billups is well-known for his work on the chemistry of small ring systems and reactive intermediates, the organometallic chemistry of free metal atoms. More recently, he has examined fullerene chemistry and the chemistry of carbon nanotubes. Free radicals are important and highly reactive intermediates in many chemical reactions.
Paul Engel's research interests lie in the photochemical reactions of azoxy compounds and visible light-absorbing radical initiators, as well as the inhibition of polymerization by quinones and quinonemethides. Supramolecular chemistry, which plays a vital role in the assembly of important biological molecules such as proteins and enzymes, is an emerging sub-discipline of chemistry that primarily concerns itself with non-covalent intermolecular interactions. These relatively weak forces are used in large number to create nanometer sized objects in a massively parallel fashion.
Jeffrey Hartgerink is exploring supramolecular chemistry and its applications to biomimetic mineralization, and the creation of novel biomaterials.
Seiichi Matsuda is interested in recombinant biosynthetic approaches to natural product biosynthesis where he is examining directed evolution and DNA shuffling to generate new oxidosqualene cyclases in addition to metabolic engineering of enzymes to produce natural and unnatural terpenes.
Ron Parry's research program centers around the biosynthesis of natural products and the mechanisms of enzymatic reactions. He maintains programs in the characterization of interesting biosynthetic reactions at the enzymatic level and the application of molecular biology to the study of secondary metabolism.
James Tour's research group uses self-assembly and self-replication of conjugated oligomers and electroactive polymers to create organic assemblies that he hopes to use to replace silicon-based computer technology as well as for the development of other devices such as polymeric sensors. The Tour group is also interested in flame retarding polymer additives, carbon nanotube modification, DNA-promoted assembly for synthetic molecules, synthesis of molecular motors nanokids and nanotrucks.
Eugene Zubarev's research is focused on the synthesis and characterization of functional organic-inorganic nanostructures. They are mainly interested in self-assembly of these hybrid structures, which may result in emergence of previously unseen physical and chemical properties.
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